Sam Smith - In 1954, Maine had its first major hurricane in some 17 years. We were near the end of a neck on Casco Bay with about a half miles of woods between us and the rest of the road to town five miles away. At the end of the neck was a woman about to have a baby and my father decided that it would be worthy to clear the road through the woods during the quiet eye of the storm. And so this 16 year old joined his father in the project, but before too long the eye passed, trees started falling around us and we got out just in time.
Then in the 1960s, I was operations officer aboard the Coast Guard cutter Spar. In our territory was a Texas Tower, a radar tower 110 miles offshore used theoretically to see the Russians before they got too close. Because of hurricane strength winds, albeit not technically a hurricane, the Air Force had abandoned the tower and asked the Coast Guard to patrol it while they were gone to prevent any Soviets from climbing aboard.
A few years earlier another Texas Tower had collapsed in a storm with the loss of 28 personnel. Now the Air Force thought it better that the Coast Guard deal with the weather. I remember pondering the logic of this while taking 45 degree rolls. Circling a Texas Tower 110 miles from shore in an 180 foot ship for hours in hurricane strength winds is not a lot of fun but we made it.
2 comments:
Until Texans stop sending climate deniers to Congress they are earning all of the destruction they are getting.
Hey Sam, remember Semper Paratus. Good on ya and all the Coasties who often go where no man should.
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